Taxes / Fee's & Other Government Bleeding

[JuneC]

Mike, I charge sales tax on the whole job (unless it's a resale - like to a marina), not just the materials.  Used to be a PITA since Palm Beach County had a .5% additional tax for some pork some politician had in mind, and Broward County was at the 6% state rate and I had to keep track of which county the sale went to (I'm about 1/3 mile from the county line).  But the Palm Beach increment expired so it's 6% for everyone unless I get a copy of the Resale Certificate.  Income Tax is a different issue altogether. 

June

[Mike]

ChArlotte county is 7% i dont knos what lee and sarasotta are cor sure but i always  charged  the 7%. Either if as if a customer came to my shop with a boat or id i had to travle out of county. Whats the difference i i did a bost at my place or on there driveway?

[baileyuph]

As all this might or might not relate to the cliff:

Does anyone know how "going over" will impact us small business?

As a tax payer, it certainly is;  taxes on dividends, interest, and similar are going to go up, I understand.

There seems unfairness here, given a small business owner has to provide their own benefits including retirement, (which we have paid taxes on the money already), are now going to have to give more to the tax leaches.  Where is the fairness in this when the taxes we pay are used, to a degree to support big government and so many social programs!

Then, just observing the wasteful spending all governments do, it sure gives some justification to just put it in a jar and bury.

I know, then there is inflation. 

Where is the fairness in all this?

Doyle

[kodydog]

Doyle I believe the fiscal cliff has been created by the politicians. One side wants more taxes and the other wants less spending and neither is willing to budge in the negotiations. In the end they will make some kind of agreement that will be a short time solution to a problem that is not going away. Both sides agree Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs need to be reformed but neither side will start the talks for fear it will end their political carrier.

I also worried about the upcoming increase in capital gains tax as I'm getting ready to sell a house. But turns out this will only effect people making over $200,000 per year. I doubt too many people on the forum are in this tax base. Good for me bad for them which seems to be the mentality of most Americans today.

My suggestion is get your own finances in order and try not to let the nonsense going on in DC keep you down.

[Mojo]

All Americans will see a tax increase if we fall off the cliff. This will equate to an extra $ 1,000 per year in SS/Medicare taxes. The super wealthy ( Warren Buffet and his buddies ) will get the hardest.

I myself do not consider any of this a tax increase as this was a temporary program to boost the economy. The same holds true for the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy. They are screaming it is a tax increase. No it is resetting the tax rate for the wealthy back to where it was before the tax cut provided by Bush and Congress. Remember, it was a temporary tax cut which is why it had an expiration date on it. You do not put expiration dates on anything that is permanent. It was extended once when it was set to expire and now it is ready to expire again, the same as the temporary SS tax break is.

I myself feel that every single member of congress on both sides of the aisle along with the President and VP should all be fired and an all new Congress brought in. These jokers are worthless. There is so much that has brought us to where we are today. Bush tax cuts given during a deficit period. The two wars. 9/11. The banking collapse and recession. A drop in tax revenues due to the recession. And of course out of control spending on pork barrel projects in addition to corporate welfare not to mention all the pet projects of Congress members from their home States.

Things are completely out of control. I cannot stand the Republican or Democratic parties. if they want to fix this spending problem they can start with eliminating lobbying as well as campaign finance reform that gets rid of PAC's.

From everything I have seen the effects of the cliff will be minimal to average Americans. It will result in about $ 20 less take home pay per week. To low wage earners this will be a hit but for the middle class it represents a little less of a hit. I equate it to the price of gas going up by $ .50 cents. Will it create a recession ? I do not think so as gas price increases have never done this.

I would gladly pay an extra $ 20 per week if it means returning to a surplus like we had in 2000. We can only reach that point by a strong economy ( more tax revenue ), slashing huge programs such as defense, corporate welfare programs, human welfare programs, etc. I am against cutting SS and medicare because I do not consider these entitlement programs. These are retirement and insurance programs that all of us paid into. I could make 5 times the amount SS would pay if I could have paid all that money over the years into a private investment account. Besides that I am a firm believer in taking care of our elderly and for many, SS is all they have. Why punish seniors for the screw ups of Congress ? Go punish the Koch brothers instead.

Who the hell ever came up with that entitlement name for SSI anyways ? What a crock.

Chris

[baileyuph]

You made some informative points Chris.

Am I correct in understanding that Wash. D.C. (government employees, appointed and elected officials, and the white house) have not cut their salaries, staffing, and expenditures?

Isn't it true that a lot of business have cut?

So, the simple but big question is WHY?

A lot of little people own stocks, money that was set up for their retirement.  The impacts might be more severe than imagined.

Doyle

[Mojo]

Congress staff and expenditures are bigger then ever.

Just got this today via e-mail.............

SOCIAL SECURITY NOW CALLED 'FEDERAL BENEFIT PAYMENT'/ENTITLEMENT !
 
Have you noticed, your Social Security check is now referred to as a
"Federal Benefit Payment"?
 
The government is now referring to our Social Security checks as a
"Federal Benefit Payment."  This isn't a benefit - its earned income
Not only did we all contribute to Social Security but our employers did too.
 
It totaled 15% of our income before taxes.
If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that's close to
$180,000 invested in Social Security.
 
If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social
security ($375/month, including both your and your employer's contributions) at a meager 1% interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you'd have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved! This is your personal investment.
 
Upon retirement, if you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $39,318 per year, or $3,277 per month. That's almost three times more than today's average Social Security
benefit of $1,230 per month, according to the Social Security Administration (Google it -  it's a fact).
 
And your retirement fund would last more than 33 years (until you're 98 if you retire at age 65)!  I can only imagine how much better most average-income people could live in retirement if our government had just invested our money in low-risk interest-earning accounts.

Instead, the folks in Washington pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever did.
They took our money and used it elsewhere. They "forgot" that it was OUR money they were taking. They didn't have a referendum to ask us if we wanted to lend the money to them.
 
And they didn't pay interest on the debt they assumed. And recently, they've told us that the money won't support us for very much longer. But is it our fault they misused our investments?
 
And now, to add insult to injury, they're calling it a "benefit," as if we never worked to earn every penny of it. Just because they  "borrowed" the money, doesn't mean that our investments were a charity! 
 
We have earned our right to Social Security and Medicare.

[kodydog]

Amen brother. Keep preaching.

[Eric]

First off it's going to be more than $1000 try closer to 2-3. 2nd buffet isn't going to pay more, because his money is capital gains, dividends, not income taxes. Koch brothers are not the problem made out to be, but you may want to look into george soros, short selling of currency, possible currency manipulation. Big billionare lefty supporter.
Chris, you do know some in government have tried to privatize SS, to allow you to invest your own money.
If I as president lower taxes rates, and congress won't make them permanent, this is temporary. But I as president, push congress not to keep this tax rate, and instead raise it, is not a tax increase? Really!
You can raise the tax on the rich all you want, we aren't getting out of this mess without deep spending cuts.
Sending $20.00 more a week is not going to do it. And personally, when it comes to my money,  I'm not in favor.
Eric

[kodydog]

Problem is Social Security has turned into a tax. Maybe that's not the way it was intended when it was first created but the current system takes money out of our pay checks each week to support the people who are now on SS.

The big fallacy is all retired people are just barley making it. Truth be known the 65 and older segment of the population are the richest in the nation. And the largest voting block also. Including my mother. My father and her worked hard all their lives and built up a fantastic retirement. She makes more in retirement than when she was working. Does she need Social Security? She could get by without it. But she paid into it and by god shes entitled to it.

Are their elderly people who need help? Certainly. But their are plenty who take their SS check just to take another cruse or buy presents for their grand-kids birthdays. What I'm trying to say is America is going broke and with more and more baby boomers retiring Social Security Insurance has to be reformed. It is no longer an insurance and certainly not an investment. Its a tax and the holiday ends in January.

Warren Buffets taxes will go up thanks to a new 3.8% tax added to capital gains to help pay for Obama Care. I wonder if he receives a  SS check.

[Eric]

A Master of Tax Avoidance
Warren Buffett has an op-ed in today's NY Times on one of his most popular themes: The rich should pay more in taxes.  At first blush, his position seems noble: A rich guy says that people like him should pay more to support the commonweal.  But on closer examination, one realizes that Mr Buffett never mentions doing anything to eliminate the tax-avoidance strategies that he uses most aggressively.  In particular:

1.His company Berkshire Hathaway never pays a dividend but instead retains all earnings.  So the return on this investment is entirely in the form of capital gains.  By not paying dividends, he saves his investors (including himself) from having to immediately pay income tax on this income.
2.Mr. Buffett is a long-term investor, so he rarely sells and realizes a capital gain.  His unrealized capital gains are untaxed.
3.He is giving away much of his wealth to charity.  He gets a deduction at the full market value of the stock he donates, most of which is unrealized (and therefore untaxed) capital gains.
4.When he dies, his heirs will get a stepped-up basis.  The income tax will never collect any revenue from the substantial unrealized capital gains he has been accumulating.
To be sure, there are pros and cons of changing the provisions of the tax code of which Mr. Buffett takes advantage. Tax policy always involves difficult tradeoffs.  But it seems odd to me that whenever Mr. Buffett talks about taxing the rich more, the "loopholes"that he uses never seem to enter into the conversation. Per the washington wire.


6. Consider the type of entity that is holding your investments. If you are an active investor in an S corporation, you are not subject to self-employment tax and can avoid the Medicare Contribution Tax.
Per the memphis daily news

[Mojo]

Thus the reason why my wifes business is a Sub S corp.

If one can afford a good CPA they can find all kinds of write offs and loopholes and Buffet and others like him can afford the very best money can buy.

When I retired my Godfather demanded I use his CPA. He saved me $ 50 K through loopholes and write offs. I had several distributions from funds tied to my employment and still had to pay $ 35 K in fed taxes. But he saved me heaps.

I remember asking him " how the hell can you write this stuff off and how am I supposed to prove any of this ? " he looked at me and said " that is my problem not yours ". The moves he made were staggering, forming S Corps, writing off stuff I didn't think you could write off. he was one of Michigan's best CPA's but he came at a hefty price. Thankfully he only billed me
$ 400 as a favor to my Godfather.

Oh and guess where the S Corp was filed ? Where else Delaware where there are no corporate taxes. These guys really exploit the hell out of the IRS tax laws. I am just a peon, imagine what the filthy rich can do with their teams of lawyers and CPA's.

I still favor a flat tax rate of 5 % as Mike Hukabee pushed during his Prez election. Everyone pays 5 % period. No exceptions. Citizens rich and poor and corporations as well.

Chris

[kodydog]

Thanks Eric and Chris. Something to chew on. Flat tax or consumption tax is the way to go. Shouldn't the tax code be easy enough for the average tax payer to figure out. But how do we get the folks in Washington to let go of their grip on our money.

[JDUpholstery]

I could not handle losing my SS/Medicare....my treatments cost over 10K per month...which is rediculous considering that my disease is incurable and this will continue as long as I am alive.....part of our short comings is in healthcare.....why a 3 hour infusion at the hospital costs 10K+ is beyond me...the medicine itself is 2400, so that means the hospital charges 7600+ to rent me a recliner and an infusion machine for 3 hours...seriously ridiculous...

the hospitals and healthcare in general are sapping the medicare money by charging so much. When I got sick back in 09, I racked up over 120K in hospital bills in just 2 weeks...needless to say I was one of the many uninsured Americans, sorry I could not afford 800 a month in health insurance and other than a hidden disease was in perfect health.

My doctors want me to come in every 3 months, and I never do, they get mad when I don't, but I say if I am not feeling bad, I will not waste tax payer dollars on a visit I do not feel is necessary.

SS/Disability pay is bad, before I got sick, I made 1500/week....after getting sick I get 1300 a month on SS, my family had to make some serious changes in our lifestyle, but we do get by with it....fortunately my wife finished school before my savings ran out, and has a good job now to make up for the shortcomings

[Mike]

here my take on it . I paid in to unimplayment insurance, and only collected one period in my life I didn't get any more nor will . and ss in a insureance or I think it was so why if its in trouble do people who don't need it get it . like the guy I knows dad who get a teamster pension plan in exses of 3 grand a month plus his ss whe could get by without not to mentioned his wifes payments .I can understand the I paid in its mine well enough but like I said I paid into unemployment too but only collected when I needed it . I used to know a old timer whjo collected ss and he would tell me he could make X amount of dollars without it affecting his payments so why dosend a company pension could as income?
btw the teamsters kid will retire in a few years and get the same if you add it up and the money saved not going to work he probly be ahead of the game then when he worked .

ps as ive said before im going to have til work till Im dead so im learning to slow down now and relax when I can fewer hours a day started late today and patterned a sailboat enclosure and finished around 1230 and felt like it was 330 so that was it for the day